Vitamin C And Nutrition the Thesis

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This work by the Harvard School of public health states that while small trails have indicated that the amount of vitamin C contained in a typical multivitamin and taken in the beginning of the development of a cold "might ease symptoms" however, for the "average person, there's no evidence that megadoses make a difference or that they prevent colds." (2009) It is related as well that studies examining Vitamin C supplements and "heart disease, cancer, and eye diseases such as cataract and macular degeneration also show no clear patterns." (Harvard School of Public Health, 2009)

III. Block, et al. (2008)

The work of Block et al. (2008) entitled: "Vitamin C in Plasma is Inversely Related to Blood Pressure and Change in Blood Pressure During the Previous Year in Young Black and White Women" states "The prevalence of hypertension and its contribution to cardiovascular disease risk makes it imperative to identify factors that may help prevent this disorder. Extensive biological and biochemical data suggest that plasma ascorbic acid may be such a factor. In this study we examined the association between plasma ascorbic acid concentration and blood pressure (BP) in young-adult women."

Block et al. reports a study involving 242 young women. Findings stated by Block et al. (2008) is that the study conducted found "…ascorbic acid concentration to be inversely associated with systolic and diastolic BP in young-adult Black and White women, independent of race, BMI, education, diet, and lifestyle factors. A 1 mg/dL (56.8 ?mol/L) increase in plasma ascorbic acid levels was associated with 4.1 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure and 4.0 mmHg lower diastolic blood pressure. Plasma ascorbic acid levels in this cohort ranged from 0.22 to 3.13 mg/dL (12.5 to 177.8 ?mol/L), indicating that a 1 mg/dL change in plasma ascorbic acid level is achievable in this young population." It was also found that ascorbic acid concentration in plasma was also "inversely and significantly associated with change" in the blood pressure during the previous year." (Block, et al., 2008)

Analysis

The facts regarding Vitamin C and its nutritional value are clearly examined more thoroughly in the work of Naidu (2003) than in the article published by the Harvard School of Public Health.
Naidu not only examines the precise dosages for healthy individuals as well as for those who smoke. Naidu (2003) also examines the benefits of Vitamin C intake to those who have had surgery or who are otherwise healing from some type of injury and notes the impact that Vitamin C has on the body's ability to form collagen. In fact, the Harvard School of Public Health article is quite flippant about the importance of Vitamin C intake and this is particularly surprising considering the powerful impact that Vitamin C intake has on the prevention of not only the common cold but other diseases and even cancer. The importance of Vitamin C intake for the individual's nutritional requirements is further exacerbated in the work of Block, et al. (2008) who reports a study in which Vitamin C was found to actually lower the blood pressure of young black and white women. The one thing that all these articles agree on is the source of vitamin C including vegetables and fruits which are specified earlier in this work in writing.

Conclusion

Vitamin C is a nutritional requirement for individuals who want to remain healthy and for those who desire to practice preventive care and guard against cancer and other diseases that are known to develop in the absence of an adequate nutritional intake of Vitamin C Vitamin C promotes good health and works with the body and its processes to enable healing of wounds and infections and generally to guard against infections and disease. Vitamin C has long been known to be beneficial health-wise to human beings and scientific findings in the present are backing up what nutritionists have known for a very long time......

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